Page 51 of His Rejected Mate

The remaining uninjured members of my team rushed after me. Kira broke off from fighting a vampire, leaving it for J.D. and Abel to finish off.

The doorway into the lab was still damaged from our last venture inside. Simon must have been too busy to repair it, assuming his creations and minions would be enough to secure it. He’d been wrong, but how many more surprises did he have waiting inside?

The bright glare of light inside the lab was a sharp contrast to the moonlight and darkness outside. We managed to get halfway down the entry hall before another group of corrupted fae appeared. Spells sizzled overhead, shooting toward us. A spell hit a member of my team, one of the few humans. He screamed as he was flung backward at breakneck speed. He tumbled out the door, bones snapping and breaking.

Zoe and Eli appeared a moment later, throwing up protective magic and spells, pushing the corrupted fae back until they managed to finish them off. Kira and I, followed by our team, moved deeper into the labs. Sirens wailed overhead as echoes of the battle outside died down. Crew’s team had finished off the last of the outer defenses.

That was something, at least. But Simon had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Even with Kira and I having each other’s backs and the sheer aggression of our own desperate team of survivors, the hits kept coming. More experimental creatures, more ferals, more vampires filled the halls, slowing and eventually halting our progress. Had it not been for our magic-wielders, we’d have been annihilated by now. All three of our teams now fought together, but we were up against too big a force.

“Fall back!” Crew screamed. “Down this hall! Regroup!”

I took the rear along with Eli and Zoe, keeping our pursuers from picking off anyone at the back. The two magic wielders created a strong encasement spell around the door to keep Simon’s security measures at bay. It wouldn’t last long, but it would give us a minute or two to formulate a plan.

Crew knelt on one knee, sweet pouring down his face. Chelsey, who had blood dripping down her face from a rapidly healing cut above her eyebrow, put her hand on his shoulder.

“Holy shit,” he said, looking up.

I looked at what he saw. We’d found ourselves in a broad corridor, one wall lined with windows looking out into what must have been the interior of the dormant volcano. The helicopters were parked on the broad expanse of black, volcanic stone. A small team was pushing cages of experiments, heavy cases of chemical and magic weapons, and enclosures filled with abominations into the transport choppers.

“We have to go out there and stop them,” Crew said. “That’s the main target.”

“I’ll go,” I said, not hesitating. “We’ll take a small team. Splitting up may divide Simon’s forces and give us an advantage.”

Crew nodded. “There must be a doorway out to the landing pad down this hallway. Hurry, that barricade spell won’t last long.”

I’d not realized how tired and beaten-down the group was. All around me, heads hung, lungs heaved, cuts bled. They were exhausted, and from the looks of it, we’d lost a few people since the start of the fighting.

“Any volunteers?” I asked.

“I’m going,” Kira said, then jabbed a finger into my chest. “Don’t even try to stop me.”

“Me too,” Abel said, wiping sweat off his forehead. “I owe this fucker some payback.”

“I’ll go with you,” J.D. added.

Two more Haveners volunteered. The rest would follow Crew deeper into the lab to find Simon and take him down once and for all.

“On my six,” I said, heading farther down the hallway.

My small team followed, Crew led the rest of our people to a T junction and departed in the opposite direction. Sure enough, as Crew had guessed, I spotted a door a dozen yards down the hall that led to the interior of the volcano. J.D. and I slammed into it, using all our enhanced-shifter strength to break the lock. On the third strike, the metal bolts gave way, the door swinging violently outward. J.D. and I tumbled forward, landing on the cool black stone. The men loading the helicopters turned at the noise, frozen at our appearance. Kira and the others rushed through the doors as J.D. and I scrambled to our feet.

We were met with a familiar face a few seconds later. Leif, fully feral in his wolf form, came running from behind one of the transport helicopters, teeth bared and a low growl emanating from his throat. He set himself up between us and the choppers, the men moving at a feverish pace to finish loading the shipments. Two more feral wolves sprinted toward us.

“Leif,” Abel said, holding a hand up. “It’s us. Your friends. I know you’re still in there. Simon messed with my head, too. Calm down.”

Leif lunged at Abel, teeth snapping and spit flying. Kira yanked Abel back by the scruff of his shirt a moment before Leif’s jaws would have severed a few fingers.

One of the Haveners stepped forward. “We need to kill him. We’re running out of time.”

“No,” Kira snapped. “We don’t kill him. He’s our friend.”

We tried to subdue Leif and not seriously hurt him. Problem was, Leif had no qualms about hurting us. Plus, the two other ferals were doing their level best to rip our guts out. Each time one of us tried to leap on Leif’s back or grab a leg, he lashed out with his teeth and claws, and the other wolves snapped their jaws at us. Leif nearly tore Abel’s ear off at one point. A few seconds later, he was bare inches from tearing into my scrotum.

Behind him, one of the choppers was fully loaded its back hatch closed. The pilot ran for the cockpit to start the engine. We were out of time. Would wehaveto kill Leif? The thought made me sick to my stomach, but what other choice was he giving us? Anyone who tried to run past the three wolves was attacked.

The chopper’s blades began to spin slowly as the engine started. Kira looked up, gritted her teeth, and bolted, trying to run past the Leif and the other two wolves. Leif jumped toward her, and J.D. threw himself between Kira and Leif’s tearing jaws. Leif bit deep into J.D.’s chest instead of Kira’s stomach, and blood bloomed on J.D.’s shirt. J.D. let out a bloodcurdling scream as the teeth sank deep into his flesh.

The noise of the man he loved screaming in pain appeared to snap Leif back into his own mind. He let go and blinked in horrified shock at J.D. sprawled on the ground, clutching his wound as he grimaced and gritted his teeth.

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